You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J remarks. At that moment readying for her first album release in eight years, blissfully happy with her newish partner, and at long last the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for ten years, feeling invincible. Suddenly in spring she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
The musician, actual name Jess Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an candid account, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, broken romances, gaslighting, suicide) with her usual frankness. The initial release, No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Later next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in May and the artist was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while still secretly living with the disease. Four weeks after she went public, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She offers me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in London. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and large glasses. Think biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the movie. “They used to call me that!” She beams. Cornish is fast-thinking, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. When performing I often tease the crowd.”
Personal Battles and News
She was planning an performance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the Monday. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project after years away and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have shown aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. During crises you are wheeled, but now I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but however Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy recently and my one side now resembles a odd shape.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she remarks, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Past Medical Issues
She is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to highlight not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”
She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career starring in the stage in a musical (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has become part of the trio the group while studying at the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
